What is the best way to address users storing and streaming music within your company?
Solution 1:
I'd be tempted to ask senior management just to send out a "remove and don't do it again" email - then you can do a monthly scan and give the management a list of those still doing it.
It's not a technical issue so don't make it one.
Solution 2:
Whatever you do, you are going to need management support for it. IT can rarely set its own policies without this support (especially if your policy affects management - like if they are also storing mp3s on the server...) Users generally get upset when things stop working the way they always have as well so you are going to need to communicate with them BEFORE you make any changes too. Company storage of mp3s is not a good idea even if you don't have any SLA on the data and it could disappear at any time since it could lead to legal issues (can you be certain that NONE of the mp3s are copyrighted?). Again, this is a small chance, but it is still there.
Depending on your file server, you may be able to exclude certain file types from being stored at all, and you can usually exclude certain file types from backups as well depending on the backup software. Windows 2003 has File Server Resource Manager that allows you to set quotas, file screens, etc...
Solution 3:
Exclude music and video directories from your backups entirely, and let your coworkers know that those directories are provided as-is, not backed up and they shouldn't put important stuff there.
If legal/copyright issues are a concern, have employees sign a waiver that says anything they put in those directories is solely their own responsibility.
I have seen a lot of companies where the IT department is a total pain-in-the-ass, making their coworkers miserable day after day. Please work hard towards not being one of those. Keep in mind that you are there to help your coworkers make the best of their working day :)
Solution 4:
I'm afraid that there isn't an answer that either you or your users are going to like. This type of issue plagues many IT departments. I'm lucky because I work for a government agency, where it's strictly forbidden to rip MP3s to the network (for that matter, they're strictly prohibited from connecting ANY personal device to the network). We have specific policies in place prohibiting it.
We encourage people to bring portable radios or MP3 players instead. That's the easiest route.
Edited to add: The minute you lay your hands (IT) on this issue will be the minute that your users expect numerous things to happen. One, that you'll help them restore all the MP3s they deleted. Two, you'll help them rip CDs they brought. Three, make it easier for them to share music with other employees...and the list goes on and on.
This is a Pandora's box that you don't want to open my friend, because it will only end in frustration from an IT standpoint. DO NOT ALLOW THIS.
Solution 5:
I had the same issue at my company, what I ended up doing in the end was creating a separate network share dedicated to music. Backups are limited to a single weekly sync. We call the share 'play', and its reserved for non-essential data, anything that ends up there might disappear forever :)
Bonus edit: just checked the share size:
[ben@kentro play]# du -h
...
712G .
Yikes!